A Wide and Endless Light
by Snows Of Yester-Year
Summary: A collection of Kataang oneshots.
1. Oblivious

**A/N: **So similarly to how I have a place to put my Tokka and Korra oneshots, this is where I'm putting my Kataang oneshots that I feel are too short to warrant being posted separately (basically anything under 2,000 words).

This particular chapter has Implications About Things. I feel that a T rating is adequate, but still. Implications. And this takes place at some point during the first half of season three? I'd say somewhere between Sokka's Master and The Puppetmaster. Anyway yes enough talking!

* * *

><p>The sun was high in the sky by the time Katara and Aang decided to take a break from Waterbending. They had started just past dawn on the spur of the moment; normally Aang did his grueling Earthbending training with Toph in the mornings, when it was cooler, and his Waterbending with Katara in the heat of the afternoon. That morning, though, Aang had looked around at their encampment, the misty river and the hazy rose of the rising sun that hung beneath a stretch of sky that was still smeared with indigo and flecked with stars, and decided impulsively that he wanted to Waterbend.<p>

They stayed on the riverbank for a while, but when the sun got higher and started burning off the mist, they stripped down to their swimwear and waded into the river to continue. It was just before lunchtime when Aang's mischievousness kicked in too hard for him to ignore and he broke the routine of their intense but controlled sparring with an all-out water war that left them both soaked through and giggling like kids. They crawled onto the riverbank, dripping and laughing and too tired from their bending to stand up.

"Ugh!" Katara exclaimed, flopping down on her stomach next to where Aang was sprawled out on the ground. "I'm so tired. I can't remember the last time we practiced bending for that long without a break."

Aang, who was used to that much and more, prodded her playfully, a wry smile tugging at his lips. "Aw, c'mon," he said, "it wasn't _that _bad, was it?"

She turned her head so that she was facing him. Damp ropes of her hair clung insistently to the shining skin of her face and back. "I guess that's the kind of thing you're used to," she mused. "Must be hard."

He shrugged. "It's not that bad," he said honestly. "Toph sort of broke me ages ago, you know? It's hard for pain from bending to bug me now."

Katara laughed, but the mirth on her face morphed into a grimace of pain as she tried to sit up. "Ugh, my muscles are killing me."

Aang sat up, too, frowning in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," she reassured him with a small grin, rotating her arm a few times. "I just didn't stretch as much as I should have before we got started."

She pushed herself to her feet, brushing the worst of the dirt off of her before stretching out her hand to Aang. "Come on," she grinned. "I'll fix lunch. You have to be hungry."

He took her proffered hand and pulled himself upward. "I can help," he offered. "You're probably tired, too."

Her grin widened. "Thanks, Aang."

Sokka and Toph weren't at the camp, but Katara didn't seem worried. "They're probably off exploring," she said, pulling some bread they got from the last town they passed through and some fruit she had gathered yesterday from one of their bags.

"I hope Momo's with them," Aang said distractedly, glancing around. "I don't see him anywhere."

"I'm sure they're fine," she said, handing Aang his food. "Now, eat up. You'll need all your strength for Toph's training later."

Aang grimaced at the thought and started eating. After a few moments, though, he realized that Katara had barely touched her food. She was rubbing the back of her neck with a pained grimace.

"Are your muscles still hurting you?" he asked in a bewildered tone. Her pained expression tugged at his heart, and he felt bad for pushing past his usual break.

"It's okay," she said, lowering her hand slowly. "That's what I get for not stretching enough."

He made his way over to her, setting his half-finished moon peach on the ground next to him as he settled down behind her. She shot him a puzzled look over her shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Just relax," he said, gently sweeping her hair out of the way. Her swimsuit left her shoulders bare, which he was grateful for; less to get out of the way. He pushed himself up on his knees so that he was a bit above her and pressed down on her shoulders briefly, shooting her a concerned look that she couldn't see. "If it hurts or if you want me to stop, just say so, all right?"

"...O-okay..." she said hesitantly.

Keeping his ministrations firm but as gentle as possible, he started massaging her shoulders, working out the knots he could find. He heard her gasp softly, and he eased the pressure he was exerting a little, not wanting to accidentally hurt her. She still seemed oddly tense, though, and he wondered if it was more than just her arms and shoulders that were hurting, so he moved further down her back, rubbing his thumbs in circles against her spine and working the best he could around the soft cloth of her top. She sighed a few times, leaning into his hands, and he smiled. He was glad he wasn't messing this up.

When he got to her lower back, she let out a low moan, and he paused, frowning in wordless concern. "Are you hurt?"

"N-no," she stammared. "I'm okay. You can...keep...going."

He nodded and started up again, leaning his forehead against her shoulder blade as he worked on a tight spot in her lower back. She seemed strangely tense again, and he wasn't completely convinced that she wasn't lying about it hurting. A moment later, he hit a spot that seemed to cause her more pain than the others, because she went rigid and let out a shaky gasping sound.

He reared back. "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed miserably. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I–"

"No, it's okay!" she said, turning to face him. Her voice wavered a bit, and she was staring at him with an odd, intense look that he couldn't place.

He frowned lightly. "Are you–"

"I'm fine!" she said, scrambling to her feet. "No, it's fine, I'm okay, I just – I don't – I, uh...I'll be back in a few minutes, okay? Just...stay..."

Her babbling faded out and she was left standing awkwardly, twisting her fingers and her hair before letting out a gruff groan of frustrating and stalking off, vanishing in the woods beyond the encampment.

Aang stared blankly after her, completely nonplussed as to what just happened. After a moment, he plucked up his moon peach, contemplating it silently for a moment before he went about finishing it.

She had barely been gone two minutes when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to face her, an inquiry about her well-being ready on his tongue, only to see that it wasn't her.

"Oh – hey, guys!" he exclaimed as Toph and Sokka wandered in. "Where did you wander off to?"

Toph fell heavily down to the earth. "Sokka wanted to practice his swordplay and he needed a target," she explained, leaning back on her hands.

Sokka glanced around the campsite, puzzled. "Where's Katara?"

Toph frowned in concentration for a moment before her face broke into an expression of comprehension. "That's odd. She doesn't usually..."

"What?"

"Nothing," she said absently, Earthbending a spike to propel a piece of fruit that had rolled loose over to her. "She's in the woods. Don't go looking for her, you wouldn't want to disturb her right now."

Aang blinked. "Why's that?"

A dull smirk crossed her face. "Didn't those monks of yours ever tell you about how curiosity killed to cat-owl?"

He rolled his eyes. "You could just tell me."

"Nah, Katara'd kill me."

Unable to work out what Toph was talking about, Aang gave up and finished off his moon peach. It was another ten solid minutes before Katara wandered back into camp, her expression distracted but her gait notably more relaxed.

"Toph, Sokka!" she exclaimed, starting when she noticed them. "When did you get back?"

"About fifteen minutes ago," Sokka said, looking up from the map he was examining. "Where were you?"

"I was taking a walk," she said in an artificially even voice.

Toph snorted loudly. "Is that what they call it in the Water Tribe?"

Katara flushed and glared at her. "Wh-what..."

Toph just laughed. "Don't be so uptight, Sugar Queen. Everyone does it, trust me."

Her cheeks colored even darker, and she was reduced to sputtering furiously. Toph, clearly enjoying the effect she had on Katara, pushed herself to her feet and made her way down to the river, calling over her shoulder, "Don't bother going farther next time, Sweetness. I can still see you."

Katara's hands were pressed to her face, and Sokka was staring at her with an expression of comprehension tempered with sympathy.

"I'm going to pretend that didn't happen," he deadpanned, returning his attention to his map.

"Fine by me," she muttered, sulking back over to the spot where she was sitting and scooping up her half-finished bread, staring at it miserably for a moment before she continued eating it.

Aang, who had watched the entire display with an air of nonplussed bewilderment, finally erupted, "Is _anyone_ going to explain what just happened to me?"

"_NO!" _Katara and Sokka exclaimed in perfect unison, the former in a shrill panic and the latter in gruff agitation.

With a heavy sigh, Aang gave up and went off to find Toph so they could start on his Earthbending.


	2. End Of All Things

Her exhaustion crushed down on her head and shoulders like a deluge of water. She had been awake most of the night, getting Zuko into the Coronation Temple to rest lest he aggravate his wounds and impressing on the dumbfounded Fire Sages and servants and soldiers that they were to listen to her, Water Tribe or not, before she started delegating orders to get Azula into custody and arrange for the war prisoners to be released and prepare for Zuko's coronation, which had to happen sooner rather than later – the stability of the nation, and the world, depended on it.

It was past midnight before she was out alone in the courtyard again, staring hard towards the east. The red glow of the comet had drained out of the sky, leaving only a fathomless inky darkness interspersed with the glitter of the stars. Her legs gave way and dropped her on the hard stone steps. She slumped uselessly against the temple wall, ignoring the puzzled guard who came across her and the timid sage who asked if she wanted to retire into the temple, and waited. Her mind was awash with what had happened there mere hours before.

When they were at the Western Air Temple, she went for a long walk one evening along the canyon's edge. Her feet eventually carried her to where the thin silver river twining through the rocks and crevices on the floor of the canyon finally spilled its life into the sea. She was several feet above the crashing water, standing atop a towering cliffside, and when she looked down, she could only just make out the salty spray hanging in the thick twilight from where the waves shattered over hulking boulders. The air itself had seemed infused with the misty twilight, surrounding her and pressing up against her. A stiff breeze from the ocean pushed her back from the cliffside, but still, she stared down, down to deserted beaches, down to the fatal fusion of the elements, down to the endless sea, and she felt very acutely how precariously balanced on the edge of something she was.

That was how she felt now, she realized, only when standing on the cliff, she knew she could take a few steps back, and the twisting knife of apprehension and fear would be eased out of her gut. There was no stepping back now, no turning away. The war that had dominated her life and shaped her as a person was suddenly over, barring Aang's loss (_he didn't lose, he didn't lose, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't). _This time, she was on a cliffside, and her way back was cordoned fast with a seal of blood and fire. The only way out was forward, and to go forward meant the end of all things. Everything she knew was suddenly unraveled in her hands, and she had no idea how to weave a new life from the remnants.

Her confusing and frightening thoughts intoning a haunting lullaby, she finally fell into a restless sleep with only a thin blanket of starlight and nightmares to guard her from the seemingly endless night.

The growl of an airship's engines roused her not an hour later. She pushed herself upright and stared blearily into the night, catching sight of the gaping void of the airship silhouetted against the stars. A hard knot of apprehension was lodged in her throat. Whoever it was couldn't see her, couldn't possibly know to signal whether they were ally or enemy even if a signal could be glimpsed in the black night. Shaking and made clumsy with fear, she padded her way down the stairs to stand in the courtyard, head tilted back. She pulled a snaking stream of water from her flask and bent it over her outstretched hands. Her healing energy bled into the water, making it glow a soft, unearthly blue. It wasn't very bright, but in the darkness, it would show up.

The courtyard was big, but not big enough for an airship to set down in it. She watched as it passed by to the left of the temple, following its trek as it flew lower to the ground. She had no idea where it touched down, and she couldn't go check. She felt rooted to the spot, like the constant flow of energy from the earth that fueled her bending had curled its tendrils around her legs and cemented them where she stood. All she could do was wait.

Minutes passed before she heard sounds from the courtyard entrance, the scuffle of feet and muttered complaints. Taking a tremulous breath, she turned to see who had come in. The shock of her own relief threatened to knock her over as she took in the shapes of her friends approaching her. The bounds around her legs finally withered and snapped and she ran towards them, meeting the overjoyed group halfway.

Her hands found her brother first, shakily grasping his face before moving to his shoulders and forcefully steering him over to sit down on the ground as her eyes frantically took in turbid bruises and scratches packed full of dried blood and his _leg, _his leg was _broken, _and her panic and liberation from the worst of her anxiety were fusing into an emotion that welled up and threatened to overwhelm her. A few tears slid away from her before the realization that Sokka was alive and all right finally arrested her chest and squeezed a sob from her throat like a splinter being wrested from flesh. She threw her arms around his neck and held on for dear life, mindless of his inane reassurances and tight embrace.

"It's okay, Katara," he said out loud. "It's okay, we won, we're all here."

She cried harder and gripped him tighter for a moment before pushing herself back, scrubbing away the worst of her tears as she took him in with a slightly clearer mind. "You're okay," she said shakily. "You have a broken...Sokka, _how _did you break your leg?"

"Ah...I kind of jumped off of an airship."

Her jaw dropped. "_Sokka!"_

"It's fine!" he said quickly. "It wasn't that far, it was just – well it was kind of far, but it's not like I was jumping to the ground, okay?"

She shook her head slowly, dazed. "You're lucky to be alive."

"Who, Snoozles?" Toph snorted from Katara's left. "If it wasn't for him and Suki we'd probably all be toast."

"You did a lot too, Toph," Suki said gently from behind Sokka. "We wouldn't have taken over that one airship if it wasn't for you."

Katara pushed herself to her feet and grabbed both girls, pulling them into a group embrace. "Are you two okay?" she asked, holding them out at arms length.

"Never better," Suki reassured her, grinning.

Toph snorted. "Don't be such a worry-wart, Sugar Queen," she said with a smirk. "It's going to take more than an airship fleet filled with Firebenders bent on destruction to take _me_ down."

She pinned them both with a happy, relieved smile, pulling them into an embrace again. It was only after this that she spotted the final member of the group over her friend's shoulders, hovering a few feet away and watching them in silence.

She detangled herself from their arms, her eyes and his locked. Suki and Toph fell away, probably anticipating a tearful, heartfelt reunion, but Katara once again felt frozen in place. He was giving her an odd look, some combination of sad and happy, humble and proud, expectant and a little forlorn. She wanted to clean away the sadness written on his face and replace it with every ounce of joy and contentment that he deserved, but she couldn't move.

After several moments stretching longer than every era of the world sewn together had passed, the dejection on Aang's face mounted, and he dropped his eyes. Their broken eye contact was what snapped her out of her trance, and she finally took a few stumbling, clumsy steps forward, her eyes finally doing a frantic sweep over his body.

"A-are you okay?" she stammered, her hands hovering over his arms without touching his skin. "Are you hurt?"

He kept staring at the ground for a moment before he sighed softly and lifted his eyes to meet hers, a sad smile stealing across his face again. "No," he said, "I'm okay."

She took a shaky breath, her hands ghosting downwards, tracing the air above his tattoos before they came to stop above his hands, drifting down and finally brushing his arrows tentatively with the tips of her fingers. He slipped his hands forward to grip hers in a hard, sure grasp. She stared down at where they were locked together, fingers twined so tight they would never untangle again. She felt one of his thumbs wrest itself free and run across her bare knuckles.

"Your hands are rough," he said softly, absently.

She swallowed hard. She once had lotion that helped, but she ran out ages ago, and replacing it was never high on her priority list.

"Waterbender's hands," she said. "What can be done?"

He stared down at them. "I like them," he said, his voice so quiet only she could hear him. "They saved me."

She stopped breathing for a split second before she remembered how to take in air again. She squeezed his hands. "And _these_ saved me."

His expression was curiously blank for a moment before resolve flickered through his eyes. Without speaking, he lifted her hands to brush a dry kiss against her knuckles, lingering there, head bowed over her hands as though in prayer, before he gently pushed them back at her, pressing them against her heart and dropping his own arms to his sides. A thousand emotions coursed through her, and she couldn't tell which one to let surface, so she stood and panicked and stared in wonderment at her best friend and savior.

"So...um..."

She jumped, forcing her focus in on his words.

"How did things go here?"

She blinked, clasping her hands for a moment before shifting one back to twist a lock of hair hard around one finger. "Oh, um, we...we beat Azula!" She turned slightly so that she was also saying this to her other friends, whose expressions rapidly changed from rapt fascination to guilty, forced detachment.

"Oh, uh, that's great!" Sokka exclaimed. "How did you guys beat her?"

"Zuko challenged her to an Agni Kai, but she shot him with lightning. I had to pin her down after that," she explained. Upon registering their panicked expressions, she hastily clarified her statement. "No, he's okay!...for the most part, anyway. He's resting now."

"Can we see him?" Aang asked.

Katara hesitated. "He might be asleep, but...we can check in on him, I guess."

They made their way across the wide courtyard. Katara led them up the steps and into the temple, weaving her way through the hallways to where the sages said the living quarters were. Indeed, Zuko was asleep, and the sage at his door wouldn't have let them in even if he wasn't.

"His highness needs rest," the sage said firmly. "As do the rest of you."

"Do you have enough room for us all?" Katara asked with a light frown.

"We should," he confirmed. He gestured over two more sages who were hovering nearby, watching. "Li and Sheng will show you to your rooms. Avatar–"

Aang paused, turning back to the sage.

"Ah..." the man hesitated, clearing his throat. "His Highness would...like you to be by his side at the coronation tomorrow," he said hastily. "If that is all right with you, of course."

Aang looked slightly surprised but did not protest. "Oh–um, sure! No problem." He glanced down at himself–his drape was gone completely, and Katara didn't want to think about how bad the fight had been for that to happen. "I'm going to need some clothes, though."

"That will be taken care of," the sage assured him.

Katara and Aang went with Sheng, waving goodnight to Toph, Sokka, and Suki as they went down another branch of the hallway with Li. The hallway was a bit cramped in this area, but the room Sheng led Aang to was still very well-furnished, built to house Fire Nation royals and their extended families for the crowning of new Fire Lords.

"You can sleep in here, Avatar," Sheng said, pushing the door open. "There is a washroom through the door there."

"Thank you," Aang said, bowing respectfully.

Sheng returned the bow, looking somewhat flustered, before he turned to Katara. "If you'll come with me, Master Katara."

She started to trail after him, but after a few steps, she paused, glancing back at Aang's closed door over her shoulder.

"Er...Sage...Sheng? Sir?"

He gave her a startled look at her clumsy attempt to address him. "Yes?"

She swallowed hard. "Can you just...point me in the direction of my room? I can find it later. Right now, I want to stay with Aang."

He opened his mouth for a moment before shutting it again, clearing his throat loudly. "Yes. Of course. Your, ah, your room is just down this hallway on the right. You should be able to find it easy enough."

She nodded, bowing hastily. "Thank you."

He bowed in return. "Sleep well, Master Katara."

She waited until he had made his way back down the hall before she nervously slipped into Aang's room. He was sitting on the bed, staring at the floor with a pensive expression, room lit dimly by the oil lamps on the wall. She snapped the door shut, making him jump.

"Katara?"

She gave him a tentative smile, clasping her hands behind her back and leaning against the door. "Hey, Aang."

He blinked and sat up straight, perplexed. "I...hey." He glanced away, a slight blush stealing across his cheeks. "Did you, uh...need anything?"

She shook her head no, lifting one hand to tug at her hair. "No, I just thought...I mean, we didn't...really get to talk much, and...I just..."

He gave her a puzzled look. She heaved a sigh, dropping her hand again. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice soft and sad.

"Sorry for what?" he asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

"For what I said to you," she clarified miserably. "For trying to pressure you into killing Ozai, for...everything. I...I was just scared. And I know that isn't a good excuse, you must have been scared too, but..."

"No, it's okay, Katara," he said, a small, reassuring smile lighting up his face. "You had a good reason to be scared. We all did."

She crossed her arms hard over her stomach, eyes downcast. "When we were looking for you, I just kept thinking...what if I never saw you again? What if something...happened to you...and your last memories of me were us yelling at each other?" She shook her head slowly, tears brimming again. "I'm just..."

Without speaking, he pushed himself up from the bed and crossed the short distance to where she stood. He only hesitated a moment before he pulled her into his arms. With a grateful sob, she threw his arms around his neck and hung on for dear life, burying herself so deep in his embrace that she thought she'd never resurface.

"I'm just so relieved you're okay," she whispered. "I don't know what I would have done if something happened to you, Aang..."

He gave her another hard squeeze before he pulled back far enough to look at her. "I'm happy you're okay, too," he said candidly. He reached up to gently tuck a piece of hair that was hanging in her face behind her ear. "I knew you guys could handle Azula, but I was still worried when Sokka told me where you were."

She tugged him back into her arms, and he happily fell against her, burying his face in her shoulder. She pulled back again after a moment, studying him in silence and tenderly cupping his face with her palm. "You must be tired."

"A little," he admitted, eyelids drooping. "You probably are, too."

"I guess I am."

They watched each other for a moment, the air between them rife with tension. Finally, Katara dropped her hands from him and cleared her throat, praying that she wasn't blushing as bad as she thought she was. "I, uh. I'm going to go to my bedroom. To wash up."

He blinked, looking dazed. "Right. Of course."

She bit her lip. "Can I...can I come back here when I'm done?"

He turned red, a shade she was sure she matched, and softly stammered, "O-of course you can."

She smiled. "Great! I...um, I'll see you. In a few minutes. I guess."

"Yeah," he said, still blushing and smiling nervously. "Yeah, of course."

She slid the door open behind her and stumbled out, snapping it shut and groaning. She was acting ridiculous, but she couldn't help it. With a sigh, she wandered off down the hallway to where the sages were. They had told her earlier that if she needed anything, she just had to ask. Hopefully food and drink was included in that.

When she found one of the sages who was awake, she asked if it was possible for him to get her and Aang some tea and fruit. He obliged, promising to deliver it to Aang's room. She thanked him and made her way back down the hallway to her room, running her hand through her hair with a grimace. She was covered in dirt and sweat and ash and blood. Not a flattering combination. When she got to her room, she peeled away her battle-smeared clothing. She'd wash it and dry it out with her Waterbending when she woke up before the coronation. Right now she just wanted to get clean and get into Aang's bed.

...To have some fruit. And tea. And nothing else.

She flushed pink again as she filled the small bath in the washroom. The temple had simple but efficient plumbing, which was still fancier than what Katara was at all used to. Having hot water piped in was the most ridiculously convenient thing in the world. When she had enough water, she crawled in and scrubbed herself down with the soap provided. It made her hair and skin smell faintly of flowers, although she couldn't pinpoint what kind. She finished quickly, drying herself off and draining the tub as she looked for some clean clothes to wear. She then noticed that someone had left a pair of loose, soft-looking pants and a matching shirt on her bed. She pulled them both on, tying off the top half with the sash provided. She left her hair down to let it dry. Finally finished, she slipped out of her room again, returning to Aang's.

The sage had been here in her absence. There was a bamboo tray bearing a small bowl of fruit, a teapot, and two teacups on Aang's bed. She folded herself down next to it and poured herself a cup, glancing periodically at the washroom door and silently wondering how much longer Aang would be.

He emerged a few minutes later. She glanced over with a smile, a greeting poised on her lips, and froze. She suddenly realized that the clothes the sages provided him were still on the bed. Once again bright red, Katara turned her gaze away, gripping her teacup as hard as possible.

"Katara!" he yelped, and she bit back her nervous, inexplicable laughter. "I-I'm sorry, I thought you'd be a few minutes longer or I would have–I mean, I didn't–"

"It's okay," she cut in, staring at the pattern on the floor like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. He made a quiet, indiscernible sound before making his way over to the bed to snatch up his clothes.

"I'll, uh," he cleared his throat. "I'll just. Go and change really fast."

She nodded and heard the door snap shut again, groaning and setting her teacup on the tray so she could bury her face in her hands. What was her issue? It wasn't like she had never seen him in little or nothing before!

_It's different and you know it, _her subconscious insisted, although why it was different was still something she was fumbling with. Not for much longer, though. She got the feeling that she was finally going to have to face the fluttering in her heart and strange lightheaded feeling he gave her sooner rather than later.

He came back out after a moment, dressed only in the pants provided. When she caught herself staring, she distracted herself by pouring him a cup of tea. She handed it to him when he got close enough. He took it from her and thanked her, fingers brushing hers.

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, drinking the tea and eating some of the fruit. Then, without warning, the reality of the situation she was in suddenly struck Katara hard, and she couldn't help but laugh.

Aang looked surprised. "What's funny?"

She shook her head, still snickering. "I was born into a nation that was forced into poverty by the Fire Nation," she said, "grew up at the bottom of the world never even thinking I'd get to leave home, and now I'm..."

"Here," he said, a small smile quirking his lips.

She nodded. "Yes," she said. "I'm sitting in a room in one of the holiest temples in the Fire Nation having tea with the Avatar, who also happens to be my best friend."

"It's strange, isn't it?" he asked. "Thinking about how much can change in a year."

"It really is," she confirmed, swirling her tea in her cup pensively. "A year ago I could barely Waterbend, I'd never left the south pole, I had barely dared to dream of the war ending, and now..."

"And now it's over," Aang said.

"Yeah," she murmured softly. "It's over."

They were silent for a moment before Aang asked in a small, hesitant voice, "Are you...going back to the south pole, now that the war is over?"

"...I don't know," she admitted after a moment. "A part of me wants to, but at the same time..."

He studied her quizzically when she trailed off, but she just couldn't articulate what she was thinking. With a sigh, she set aside her teacup, pushing herself to her feet and stretching. "We need some sleep if we're going to be coherent for Zuko's coronation."

Aang blinked, disappointment flickering across his features. "Oh...oh yeah," he said, setting his cup down with a soft clatter. "It is pretty late. Or...early, I guess. What time is it, anyway?"

She rubbed one eye. "About an hour and a half before dawn, I think," she said, glancing at the window. The heavy drapes were pulled, but she could still see a sliver of moon-drenched nighttime through the crack. She sighed and plucked up the tray, setting it to the side. "All right, come on. To bed with you, oh great and powerful Avatar. Even heroes need rest."

He made a face, clambering to his feet and dimming the lamps with Firebending as she tugged the blankets back on his bed. She steered him over and gently guided him in, pushing him down to lay back against the pillows and pulling the covers up over him. She sat next to him, her hand lightly stroking his face of its own volition. "Try to get some rest, all right?"

His eyes were drooping heavily. Rest shouldn't be a problem. "Okay. I will. Thank you, Katara."

She smiled warmly at him and started to get up, but his hand shot up and grasped hers.

"Wait..."

She paused, giving him a surprised look. He hesitated, hand still gripping hers tight.

"Can you..." he glanced away, swallowing hard. "Can you stay here?"

His voice was smaller and more timid than she was used to. Without warning, she felt her heart crack, and the emotions she had been keeping pressed inside of her spilled out. She sank back into the bed and fell over next to him. He clung to her desperately and her arms wrapped around him and pulled him tight against her. After a moment of shuffling and rearranging, she had slipped under the covers with him. Not thinking, she pressed her lips to the tip of his arrow and nuzzled him, smiling brilliantly to herself as sleep finally took her.

* * *

><p>She didn't know how much time had passed, whether it was a minute or an hour, but the next thing she knew, she heard the door creaking open slowly. She kept her eyes shut and lay still, one arm propping up her head while the other stayed draped across Aang. Footsteps circled the bed, and someone nudged Aang, making him shift against her.<p>

"Huh..." he muttered groggily, stirring and pulling away slightly. "What's going on?"

"Come with me for a moment, Avatar Aang, if you will," murmured the voice of one of the sages.

There was a rustling, and suddenly, the spot next to Katara was cold and empty. She cracked her eyes open, but they had already circled around the bed and were out of her line of sight. The sound of the door sliding open and then closed again met her ears, though she noted that it did not snap all of the way shut. Moving quietly, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, creeping closer to the open doorway and glancing out through the inches-wide crack.

The hallway was still dim, the air infused with the rosy light of dawn. The sage and Aang both stood there, but Zuko was up and with them as well. He wore nothing but pants and the bandages wrapped around his torso.

"I'm going to be fine, Aang," he said softly, and Katara could just make out the worried look on Aang's face. "Don't worry about me. I'm healing already."

"You'll be okay for the coronation?" Aang asked, studying the bandages with an agonized look.

"Yeah," Zuko said. He lifted one hand and pressed it against his wound. "It barely hurts now."

Aang nodded slowly, still looking somewhat skeptical but clearly too tired to argue further. "Do I need to start getting ready now?"

"No, you can sleep for a while longer," Zuko assured him, a rare smile stealing across his face. "We just wanted to get the stuff you'll be wearing to you."

"Couldn't you have just left it in my room?" Aang asked wearily.

The Fire Lord-to-be shook his head. "You need to try it on. The seamstress was going off of guesswork."

With a sigh, Aang took the prooffered clothes from the sage and unfolded them. They were a burnt orange that glowed the color of the rising sun in the amber dawn light. He cautiously tugged the shirt on over his head. The style was reminiscent of what Katara had seen the monks depicted in the temples wear, but the robes that Aang was pulling on flowed more.

"They seem to fit me pretty well," he commented thoughtfully, tying off the sash and turning slightly to give Zuko and the sage a better look. The slightest gust of Airbending fluttered beneath the robes, making them drift gracefully around Aang and giving him the look of a cloud that had caught the morning sun just right.

"Are they okay?" Zuko asked, concern leaking into his voice. "We based them off of some old paintings the sages found on some artifacts."

"They're better than okay," Aang assured him. He faced Zuko, a smile on his face. "Thank you."

"There's something else," Zuko said, glancing over at the sage.

The older man stepped forward, taking a box out from under his arm and passing it off to Zuko. He held it for a moment and stared down at the weathered lid before he carefully lifted it up to reveal what was inside, hinges squeaking softly. Katara couldn't see what was inside, but she heard Aang's gasp clear enough.

"Where..." Aang paused, voice choked. "Where did you get this?"

Zuko bowed his head, looking genuinely ashamed. "Some artifacts were kept by the Royal Family," he admitted. "I'm sorry. This is yours, along with anything else we have."

Slowly, Aang stretched his hands forward to lift what Zuko had brought him out of the box. It was a necklace like the ones Katara saw on Gyatso's statue. The line of carefully rounded wooden beads was broken only by a large medallion with the Airbending emblem carved into its face and deep orange tassels hanging from it.

Katara suddenly saw that Aang's hands were shaking, and she gave serious thought to blowing her cover to go and comfort him.

"...Thank you," he finally whispered. He bowed to Zuko briefly before righting himself and ducking over to give the older boy a hug. "Thank you so much."

Zuko patted his head awkwardly, looking unsure of what to say or how to react. "You need more sleep," he said, carefully pushing Aang off of him. "Someone will come in and wake you up when you need to get ready."

Katara quickly slipped further back into the room, swiping a few tears away from her eyes surreptitiously. She was already sitting back in the bed when Aang returned. He set the clothes down on an empty desk and heaved a sigh, back turned to her. She sadly followed the lines of his arrows, interrupted only by the shock of the scar on his back, and silently wished for a way to take away his pain.

He turned back to the bed and locked eyes with her, starting when he realized she was up. "Katara – oh, no, did we wake you?"

"Yeah," she admitted, a sad smile twitching at her lips. "It's okay, though."

He still looked downcast as he wandered back over to the bed, dropping down next to her and sighing. She sat up and grabbed his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"I miss them," he said, his voice soft and candid. "All of them. I..."

She threw her arms around his shoulders and held on tight. He fell against her, pressing his face into her neck and gripping her close.

"It's okay," she said softly. "It's okay to miss them."

She didn't know what else to say, but luckily, he didn't seem to need to hear anything else. After a few moments, she said, "You need more sleep."

He pulled back reluctantly. "I guess..."

She scooted back and pulled the covers down, allowing them to curl up together underneath them again. This time, however, sleep did not immediately claim them.

"...Katara?"

She opened her eyes. He was laying several inches away, facing her with his gray eyes level with her own. He looked absurdly serious.

"What _are _you going to do," he asked, "now that the war is over?"

She blinked slowly and glanced away. "Honestly...I don't know."

When he failed to break the silence that followed, she continued.

"A part of me wants to go home and see how things are rebuilding, but honestly, going there to stay would just be...weird right now."

He gave her an odd look. "Why?"

"Because nothing would be the same," she burst. "Least of all me. The war is over, the tribe's rebuilding, and I'm not...I'm not the little girl that my village knew anymore."

He reached up to grab her hand, linking it with his own. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No," she said, "it's good, but it...I mean, what _am _I supposed to do? I've been so afraid...afraid of everything ending. I still don't know what to do, and now that the war's over, I don't really...I don't really have anywhere to go."

"Katara," he said, cutting her off. "I know why you might not want this, but...you can come with me if you'd like."

"Aang..."

"It's okay if you don't want to," he said in a rush. "But you can if you want. I mean, you've always been there for me. You guys have been my only family ever since I got out of the iceberg. I don't know what I would have done without you, and...I don't want you to be alone or feel like you don't have anywhere to go. You have me, Katara."

She felt a bit choked up, not that she was about to admit it. "What are _you _going to do?"

He glanced down. "I'm...not exactly sure. I mean, I know there's still a ton of work left, but I don't know where to start. I guess the colonies, maybe. Or restoring Ba Sing Se to Earth Kingdom rule." He sighed, and for a split second, he looked all of the one hundred and twelve years he had lived on this earth. "There's just so much to do..."

"...I'll help," she said in a small voice.

"Are you sure?" he asked, glancing up. "I don't want to be a burden to you, Katara. You've already done so much for me. Don't you want to go home?"

She lifted one hand and rested it against his cheek.

"You're my home."

He didn't answer. Shutting her eyes tight, she swallowed hard and took a deep breath. She couldn't take back what she was about to say.

"I want to stay with you for as long as you want me with you," she said. "I...love you, Aang."

She opened her eyes to find him giving her a dumbfounded look. She offered a small, shaky smile in return. Saying the words that had been brewing in her heart for so long was exhilarating and terrifying.

"I love you," she said again, stroking his cheek softly, and a smile finally broke across his face.

"I love you, too," he whispered, reaching up to rest his hand against hers.

She ducked close and kissed him quickly, her head spinning. He pulled back just far enough to smile and murmur, "I'm glad this isn't the end."

She laughed. "It _is _the end," she said. "But that's okay. It's the beginning, too."


	3. Return

'_The opposite of war isn't peace –'_

One hundred years prior, he lost his family in a blaze of bigotry and hatred.

The war-rent world was still seeping blood and pain at the cracks left by the century-long inferno. Civilizations lay in ashes. Thousands of years of history reduced to a miasma of oily smoke. Towering temples robed in stories of holy monks and powerful spirits fulfilled their final duty to their people as mass graves.

He missed them so. He would give up his thousand lifetimes to fold himself into the curling incense of his home, the endless blue skies of his ignorant youth, the embrace of his family and friends, but there was nothing he could do to return to this. The fire that consumed the world seared away his naïveté, his past, and his home, leaving a gaping, aching wound.

But the final tongue of flame from this inferno also cauterized his injuries.

And he, the only one to escape the tomb of his people, sat not ten feet away from the descendant of the man who had carved these swaths of death into the mountains.

All around him sat his friends, people who would never have even met had it not been for the war. The sweet floral smell of the tea and their light-hearted banter melted into a happy haze that completely surrounded him, lifting up his heart and making him feel like he could fly without ever leaving the ground.

From her spot next to her brother, she lifted her eyes, eyes brighter than those endless blue skies, and grinned at him. Every fiber of his being hummed with the force of her gaze and the soothing warmth of her smile.

Perhaps she could feel his ache. Perhaps she saw it on his face, read it as easy as the words of a prayer. Because every time the ache started to burn in his heart, she would lock gazes with him, and without ever speaking a word, she would tell him, "_I am here. I will always be here."_

The girl who found him, who taught him, who supported him, who stands by him now even though she knows she is free to go. His teachers. His friends. The Avatar and the Fire Lord, united at the end of the inferno.

One hundred years prior, he lost his family in a blaze of bigotry and hatred; and from its ashes, he has found it again.

'_-it's creation.'_


	4. Idle Minds

They collapsed onto the bed in the Fire Nation palace unison when the sun was still in the sky, its slanting evening rays turning the bedroom a bright gold and making the rose-colored bedspread they had settled against glow. Birdsong, light and carefree, wrapped around them, and the smell of blooming honeysuckle hung in the air. They had been going since the moon still hung in an inky blue-black sky from the night before, and they were both beat.

Aang's head feel back against the pillows with a groan, and a moment later, he felt Katara drape herself across him, tucking her forehead into the crook of his neck and snuggling against him. He shifted to cradle her closer, fingers snatching at her loose hair.

"I feel like I could sleep for a week," Katara murmured, voice muffled.

"Hmm." He nuzzled her hair, breathing in flowers and the distinct smell of _her_. "I know. Days like today can take years off of a person." He absently reached up to tug her small bun out to let the rest of her hair down so he could tenderly rake his hand through it, reveling in the feel of the silky strands slipping through his fingers. "At least we're done now."

"Yeah," she sighed softly. Moving slowly, she shifted up to kiss him, her lips soft and unhurried. He sighed happily and shifted against her, pressing his leg gently between her own and making her breath hitch. She broke the kiss to whisper his name, pressing her forehead against his and locking her bright, clear blue eyes with his gray ones.

"You know what we haven't done in a while?" she breathed softly.

A tiny smile quirked the corner of his mouth. "What's that?"

"Traumatized Zuko."

His smile turned to a wicked grin.

"What do you have in mind?"

She twisted away from him to sit up and stretch, giving him a smile he had come to associate with pleasantly exhausting nights, and said, "Throne room's probably empty right now, wouldn't you think?"

He pushed himself up on his hands with a laugh. "For the moment...but that might change if you can't keep quiet, _sweetie."_

She giggled mischievously, dragging him over to her to kiss him hard and deep, breaking away a solid two minutes later to ask breathlessly, "How far do you think we can get before he catches us in there?"

"Let's find out."


	5. If You Never Leave

**Kataang Week, day one: Beginnings **

* * *

><p>The cold winter afternoon was clear and bright, fleecy clouds stretched thin across a watery blue sky. Aang and Katara were sitting outside of the one inn in town, leaning against the sturdy wall in contented silence, Katara unraveling her hair to re-braid it and Aang stroking the lemur snoozing on his lap.<p>

Normally, the group had to camp on the outskirts of town, but that evening, Aang and Katara had unwittingly bought some vegetables from none other than the innkeeper's wife. When she realized who they were, she promptly invited them to stay at the inn that night, waving their concerns about money by informing them that the Avatar had no need to pay for lodging at their establishment.

"It's so peaceful here," Katara said into the quiet of the evening. She flicked her loose hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms, staring out into the forest with half-lidded eyes.

"Yeah, it is," Aang agreed, running his fingers through Momo's fur. "It's good to be in a town that doesn't have any soldiers."

"Or people wanting your help," she added.

A grin quirked at his mouth. "I don't mind that, though."

"But doesn't it get tiring?" she asked, head tilted. "Always having to run around and help people?"

"Not really," he said cheerily. "I like it. I like seeing people happy because of something I did." His grin faded and he stared off into the trees, expression thoughtful. "But...I like this too. Just sitting doing nothing."

"Yeah." She stretched and reached back to start a new braid. "I wouldn't mind staying here forever."

He shot her a grin. "Just like this?"

Katara returned the smile. "Yup. Just like this."

"Fine by me."

Momo chittered, scrambling out of Aang's lap to take flight.

"The three of us could get a house," Aang said, tilting his head back to follow the lemur with his eyes. "But it would have to be by a field so Appa could be there."

"And Momo?"

"Yeah," he said, beckoning Katara to turn her back to him. She obliged, and he took the strands of her half-finished braid in his hands, twining them together. "Maybe we could get one next to a grove with moon peach trees."

"By a river," she proposed, "so we can practice Waterbending."

He laughed. "We'd never stop if we lived by water! Sokka would get so mad."

She giggled in response. "He'd learn to deal with it. Although..." she shot him a teasing grin over her shoulder. "I didn't think nomads settled."

"We'd still travel," he said nonchalantly. "I'll take you to the other Air Temples. They're all really beautiful, especially the Western one."

"We should go to Ba Sing Se," she proposed. "Just for a visit."

"And the Si Wong desert - or, well, the oasis on it's edge. I've been there before. It was really a treat."

She sighed happily, gaze suddenly distant. "The South Pole, so I can tell Gran Gran about my adventures with you."

He blinked at her a few times and glanced down at his hands, holding the end of the completed braid tight between his fingers. "Oh, yeah. I guess you'd want to go back there, huh?"

"At least to visit." She passed the string she used to tie the braid off back to him, turning back to trace the pattern that ran along the edge of her favorite pot back home into the dirt at her side. "Maybe to live. I don't know."

He nodded, wrapping the string around the end of the braid. Without warning, he Airbended himself to his feet, holding out his hand to help her up as well. "Come on," he said, cheerful demeanor fully in place again. "Let's go explore the forest before it gets dark."

She returned his grin after a split second, grabbing his hand and hauling herself upright. "All right."

The winter woods were quiet. There was no snowfall, and the weather in this part of the world was downright mild, but even so, there were no leaves on the trees, and many of the animals were gone, hibernating for the winter. They found a stream cutting a path through the forest floor, the edges frosted, burnished autumn leaves trapped in the crystalline ice. They leapt over the stream, one after the other, and Katara paused for a moment on the opposite bank to stare down at the rushing water before they moved on.

It wasn't long before they came upon a strange, rocky, cliff-like outcropping set in the middle of a clearing. The stone was a deep gray, the surface of the rock rough, and the rocks held countless nooks and crannies, many of them large enough for them to hide in. They didn't want to risk it, mildly afraid of what animals may wait in there for them, so they climbed to the top of the rocks.

It was an impressive view. The forest stretched out before them, and they could even see the village, nestled in the trees.

"This is pretty nice, too," Katara admitted, contemplating the view thoughtfully.

He glanced over at her. "But you really miss the South Pole, don't you?"

She didn't answer right away, giving him a contemplative look. "I do," she admitted. "I miss all of the snow. I miss being surrounded by my element. But..." she shrugged, smiling. "It's worth it, traveling with you."

"I'll bring you home after the war."

She glanced back at him, their eyes locking, and it felt like centuries stretched between the two of them in those few moments. _I'll bring you home after the war._ After Aang defeats the Fire Lord, a battle neither of them allowed themselves to dwell on. Overcome by the need to be near him, she scooted close and threw her arms around his neck, locking him in a vice-like embrace for all of a moment before she let go again. No words had passed between them, but she knew. They _both_ knew.

"Or we can stay here," she said again, voice softer than before.

He watched her apprehensively, and she saw that he seemed afraid - of what, she was unsure.

"You'd stay with me?" he muttered, gray eyes flicking away, and her heart lurched.

"As long as you'd like," she said, looking down at her hands. "You're...my best friend, Aang."

He was blushing, she realized, which looked more endearing than it should. She caught herself wanting to kiss him on the cheek, and gave her head a slight shake to dispel the urge. That was the second time in so many weeks that she caught herself thinking that way. Downright strange.

"I guess we could live together at the South Pole," he offered.

"We could," she mused slowly.

"Or we can just keep traveling the world together," he said. He grinned. "What do you say?"

She nodded, smiling and wondering at the warm fluttering in her stomach. "Fine by me."


	6. Streets of Fire

**Kataang Week, day two. Day three will be posted soon, hopefully.**

* * *

><p>A setting sun turned the vast sea of buildings that was Ba Sing Se a burnished, glowing red, the sky aflame with its rosy light. It looked like the streets themselves were on fire, so bright was the burning light. It was in this world of the approaching summer sun that Katara found Aang - on the porch of the upper ring apartment they had been given to stay in while they looked for Appa, leaning on the railing, glider resting against him, his far-off gaze trained on the horizon.<p>

She alerted him to her presence with the lightest touch, her hand brushing his back. He glanced at her, allowing her a smile that didn't reach his eyes before he turned back forward. "Hey, Katara."

Even now, his pain was palpable. He missed Appa so much, and it hurt her heart like nothing else could. Nothing mattered but making him smile for real again. She slipped her arm around his shoulders and gave him a gentle squeeze.

"We're going to find him, Aang."

He slumped into her embrace. "I know," he said. He sounded completely unconvinced.

Katara regarded him thoughtfully for a moment before tossing a glance back into their apartment. "Come on," she said. "Let's go walk."

He seemed reluctant, but he followed her anyway, trailing along after her as she started off into the streets. She led Aang to a hill tucked into the sprawling upper ring. It had no buildings, no trees. It was just a huge grassy mound, the slopes blanketed with purple clovers. At the top, they had an impressive view of the upper and middle rings. Katara dropped down to the soft ground, beckoning for Aang to join her.

"Ba Sing Se is so different from how I imagined," she said in a hushed voice once they were both situated and had fallen silent.

He shrugged, plucking a few clovers. "Honestly, I wasn't that surprised."

She glanced at him curiously. "What _did _the monks tell you about Ba Sing Se?"

"That it was...different," he said slowly, fiddling with the soft flowers. "I asked Gyatso if I'd ever get to come here, and he just said that if I was lucky, I'd never have to."

She frowned gently, glancing back out over the cityscape. "So far, I can't say I blame him."

"I don't think it would be so bad if we weren't stuck here," Aang said. Katara could hear the way his voice was still suffused with a touch of bitterness. He had improved since their time it the desert, but he was still sad and distant sometimes.

Not that she could blame him, of course. She knew Aang cared about her and the rest of their small (but growing) family, but he also had a special bond with Appa. He was all Aang had from his old life, the only being who had crossed the bridge of time cocooned in ice with Aang, the last living connection to a life that Aang could never recover. She couldn't imagine how it must feel to lose him.

"Yeah," she agreed sadly. "I hope we find Appa soon."

"Me, too." He paused in his work twisting the long stems of the clover and tilted his head back, studying the sky. "I miss him."

"I do, too," she said candidly. "And I _really _miss flying."

His hands paused in their work of twisting the clovers into a garland. He shot her a hesitant glance.

"I can take you flying."

She gave him a startled look. "Your glider?"

He grinned in response, gently settling the flower necklace around her neck and Airbending himself to his feet. "Why not?"

She hesitated. "Will it work? We won't both be too heavy, will we?"

"No way," he said with a laugh, Airbending his glider open. "Come on, Katara. Please? It'll be fun."

She allowed herself a small laugh as she scrambled to her feet. "How are we both going to stay on?"

"You can hold onto the top of the glider," he suggested, positioning the contraption behind him. "And don't worry about falling, I'll catch you if you do."

"I know."

She approached him, grasping the top of the glider with both hands. The positioning was awkward, and she wasn't sure what to do with her legs.

"When I take off," he said, "hang on tight and wrap your legs around the staff."

She didn't even have time to confirm out loud that she understood before the earth fell away from them, dropping down at a dizzying rate as they sped up into the clouds, lighter than a feather. They rode the burning clouds out over the city, watching the blur of green rooftops and dusty streets below them.

"I forgot how beautiful everything is up in the air," she said, voice garbled with emotion and the wind that held them.

"Nothing beats flying," Aang agreed, circling out over the middle ring. "Traveling on foot is a nightmare."

She settled against the silk wings, glancing down at him. "When we leave Ba Sing Se, we'll be flying. Don't worry, Aang. He has to be here somewhere."

He shifted, adjusting his grip. "Nothing has gone right since the desert," he said softly.

She knew that he was only saying this because it was just the two of them up in the air, far away from Sokka and Toph, from the Dai Li and Long Feng, from the people Aang was born to protect. He wouldn't let himself be so openly downcast in front of them, but could in front of Katara. She had always encouraged him to be honest with her, open about his hurts and fears, and after a bit of resistance borne from not wanting to burden her, he complied.

"It's been hard," she agreed. "But we're going to work things out."

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course I do." She cursed their flight briefly, wanting to grasp his hand in reassurance. "You're the Avatar. You can figure this out."

He was silent, and Katara didn't push the conversation. They cleared the lower ring and flew out over the vast agricultural ring, fields and forest and even mountains passing below them, streets of fire and prison-like buildings far behind them. The sun was even lower in the sky, and the world was stealing some of the purples and blues from nighttime to replace the evening's fiery reds.

They found a lake, a silver stretch of water glowing far below them. It looked like the sunset had been caught and gathered up in the valleys between the mountains. They landed on the bank, taking a break before they flew back.

"Katara?"

She paused mid-stretch, glancing at him and taking in the troubled look on his face. "Are you okay?"

He frowned down at his glider, the wind rippling the bright orange silk.

"I don't..." he sighed, shoulders slumped. "I don't know if I can work things out this time."

The distance between them closed instantly. Her arms went around him, hugging him tight, and after a moment, she felt him drop the glider and return the embrace.

"I know it feels like everything is going wrong right now," she said softly, "but this isn't the end of the world. I've already seen you do so much good for people, and you try so hard. We're going to find Appa, we're going to figure out how to deal with Long Feng, and we're going to get the Earth King's support. I know we will."

He squeezed her tighter. The self-doubt and fear rolling off of him was palpable, and not for the first time, she wished she could lift some of it from his shoulders and bear it herself. For the time being, though, she had the feeling that her arms around him were enough.


	7. Need You So Bad

**I know I'm behind. Hell will freeze over before I keep up with a ship week, I am resigned to my fate.**

* * *

><p>"So, did you have a good time?"<p>

Katara tilted her head to shoot Aang a grin as he drew nearer to her on the saddle. They had landed for the night after fleeing the interrupted dance party, but the small group elected not to pitch camp, sleeping on Appa's back instead.

Except Katara couldn't sleep, and from the looks of things, Aang couldn't, either.

"I did," she whispered, scooting over so he would have room to sit next to her. "You're quite the dancer, Mister Avatar."

A warm smile cracked his face. "You're not too bad yourself, Katara. I'm glad you danced with me."

"Yeah," she agreed softly, gently combing some of his hair out of his face. "Me, too."

His headband was gone in the absence of outsiders, and his pale blue arrow was stark against his skin and his dark hair. She missed his arrows more than she would have thought; she had taken for granted the sight of them arcing across his skin.

Without thinking, she moved her fingers that were resting against his forehead further back, running them through his short hair, expression rapt. Aang watched her in turn, curiosity bright in his eyes.

"...Sorry!" she exclaimed when she finally realized what she was doing, drawing her hand back and clearing her throat. "I just...it's so odd seeing you with hair, you know?"

"Oh, yeah," he agreed, smoothing it down nervously. "I'm not really used to it, either."

"I'll bet." Her eyes softened as she raked his alien form with her gaze; the uniform and the hair were just so _strange. _Not bad, but odd and hard to get used to. She wasn't completely used to it, and she couldn't help but look forward to seeing him back to normal.

"Can you do that again?"

She started, jolted from her thoughts, blinking at him. "Do what?"

He opened his mouth and shut it again without speaking, glancing away and blushing. "Ah, nothing. Don't worry about it."

She grinned. Moving slowly as though she'd spook him, she reached up and tunneled her fingers through his hair again, tracing them back across his scalp. He groaned lightly and leaned into her touch, making her laugh. "Does that feel good?"

"Y-yeah," he said absently, eyes half-lidded. "Almost makes having hair worth it."

She laced her fingers together at the back of his head and drew her gaze level with his. The thought of how easy it would be to just hold him still and lean in and kiss him filtered through her mind, and she jerked back slightly, shaking her head to dispel it. The dance must have really gotten to her.

"I like your hair," she said distantly, glancing away.

After a moment, he surprised her by slipping his hand in hers and leaning his head against her shoulder. She jumped, blinking down at him. "Aang?"

"...I'm...I'm tired," he said, voice so soft she could barely hear him.

"It's late," she said in an understanding voice. "You should-"

"That's not..."

He sighed, shifting and sitting up, and that's when she really saw his eyes, when she really saw how tired he was.

"I'm tired of fighting," he admitted quietly. "In the town, I thought...if we could get the kids to somehow understand things...maybe parts of this war could be won without real fighting." He reached up to rub his eyes. "I guess that was dumb, wasn't it?"

"No," she said, heart hurting. "No, Aang, that's...that's not dumb."

He watched her silently for a minute before, without warning, leaning forward and giving her a kiss on the cheek so light it was barely there at all. She was too stunned to speak, blinking down at him in surprise as he settled against the saddle next to her. Without a word, she lay down next to him, throwing an arm around him to gather him into her loose embrace.

"Katara?"

She tucked him under her chin, resting her cheek against his soft hair and trying not to cry.

"You've already been so brave, Aang," she said, "and you've accomplished so much. I want to help you however I can."

He took a deep, shuddery breath. "It's going to be hard," he said.

"I know," she said. "But you have us. You have _me. _You know that."

"...Yeah," he said. He shifted against her, and she wasn't sure if the heartbeat she felt was his or hers. "I need you, Katara."

"And I need you," she reaffirmed, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair again.

Slowly, he lifted his arm, banding them around her middle.

"Stay with me?"

She nodded, nuzzling his hair. They stayed like that until morning, curled together for warmth and comfort, and when Sokka woke up to see them like that, he just smiled and shook his head and made a mental note to remind Toph that his money was on the summer solstice when she woke up.


	8. Blossom

**Night after the finale.**

* * *

><p>Sleep was refusing to visit Katara. She kept fidgeting, grinning broadly to herself, the day's events still swirling in her head. Admitting defeat, she sat up and swung her legs out of bed. Hopefully taking a walk around the apartment would settle her excited nerves.<p>

Without thinking, her hand drifted up to brush her lips, dizzy smile still in place. She had kissed Aang. And he had kissed her back. This simple fact was on a loop in her mind, and it made her so giddy that she wanted to burst out laughing right there in the hallway in the middle of the night.

The confusion and fear that had stood in the way during the war was still behind them. Katara knew in her heart that the danger had not completely passed, that they still had a great deal of work to do with the Harmony Restoration Movement and that in its own way the war was still going on, but she couldn't wait any longer.

Any lingering doubt about her feelings had been completely obliterated after he faced Ozai. It was only after he had returned to her and was safely in her arms that she allowed him to drive her to distraction, that she indulged in realizing the depth of her fear for his safety and the underlying feelings that drove it. She could no longer lie to herself or to him about how she felt, nor did she want to.

She had wandered into the garden behind the building without thinking. She couldn't see very well, but it settled her a little to be able to see the sliver of the waxing moon above her.

"Katara?"

Somehow, she wasn't surprised to hear his voice. She turned to the tree it had come from, brushing aside the branches and finally making out the dim shape of Aang sitting against the tree trunk.

Without a second of hesitation, she sank to her knees and banded her arms around him, resting her head against his shoulder. He returned the embrace, gathering her close against him before they both fell still.

"I guess you couldn't sleep, huh?" he said wryly.

She shook her head no, nuzzling his neck. "I'm not tired."

"Me, neither."

She shifted against him, content with the feeling of him holding her, content with the perfumed air of the garden, content with the idea of staying like this forever. She'd happily sleep out here like this if she wasn't half-convinced that Sokka would blow a gasket. _("It's not that I'm surprised, but must you two be so..._public _about it?")_

But even with the threat of her brother's wrath over her head, she didn't want to get up, didn't want to go to sleep. The bloom the two of them had unwittingly been nursing had finally blossomed and she didn't want to miss a second.

Neither spoke, but neither slept or made a move to go inside. Instead, they sat out like that for the rest of the night, finally watching the golden sunrise light the sky.


	9. Sitting In A Tree

It was, without a doubt, one of the strangest situations they had ever found themselves in. And that was really saying something.

Katara quietly drummed her fingers against her knee, ignoring the biting discomfort of the tree bark digging into her backside as she watched her boyfriend - the hero who had ended the 100 Year War, master of all four elements, widely hailed and renowned as powerful and just and true - struggle fruitlessly with the rope trap in which he had entangled himself.

"Can't you burn through it?" she called out after a moment, her voice carrying across the tree that separated them.

"I can't get a good enough angle!" be barked back at her, and for a second, his struggling swung the rope so that he was within her line of vision. He had somehow ensnared both arms _and _his right leg in the trap.

"Use your left leg."

"What?"

"I said, _use your left leg."_

"...Use my...best...egg?"

"Never mind," she sighed, sitting back. She paused. "Can you climb up the rope?"

"...uh..."

She sighed, pushing herself forward. She was in one of the highest branches in this tree sturdy enough to support her weight, perched there by Aang himself to keep an eye on things on the ground while he made sure the traps were in working order.

They were, apparently.

The village they had entered four days ago had flagged Aang down desperately, explaining to him that there was a spirit attacking people and dragging off animals in the middle of the night. Doubtful, Aang poked around long enough to determine that it was actually a tigerdillo. Sokka had set the trap so that it would stun or even kill the animal, but Aang had gone behind his back and made a few adjustments so that it would just be hoisted up in the air, doubtless disoriented and angry but relatively unharmed.

At least, she thought again, Aang's adjustments worked.

Moving slowly, she crawled as far forward on the branch as she dared. She was several feet above the ground, and the distance made her a bit dizzy when she leaned over and stared down at the forest floor.

"All right," she muttered, "all right, I can do this. I think."

She adjusted her grip on the branch and carefully allowed herself to drop beneath it, dangling by her arms as she tried to get a better idea of where Aang was.

"Stop moving around so much," she said, frowning. After a few seconds, the dull creaking of the rope swinging back and forth ceased.

"Do you have an idea?"

"Maybe." She tilted her head back to look up at the branch, hefting herself back up and slowly crawling back towards the trunk. There was another branch that extended reasonably close to the tree between her and Aang, about four feet above where she was now.

This is stupid and dangerous, she silently chastised herself as she jumped up and grabbed at the branch. She barely managed to hang on. Moving fast, she pulled herself down as far as she dared, taking a steadying breath and swinging herself forward, letting go at the last second. Flailing hands grabbed desperately at tree bark. Her palms stung, but she held on.

"Katara, what are you doing?"

She pulled herself upright and shimmied towards the tree, unable to suppress her grin.

"I'm saving you," she said, slowly maneuvering her way around the trunk in search of a branch that would get her closer to him. "It's practically a hobby at this point, sweetie."

His face was red, but whether it was from her comment or from his own awkward position, she couldn't tell. She shut the distance between them as fast as possible. In no time, she was perched on the branch from which he was dangling, carefully hefting the rope up and finally pulling him up to sit next to her. Wasting no time, she started on the knots that kept him bound up.

"Thanks," he said once he was free, rubbing the raw skin at his wrists. "I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here."

"You would have figured something out," she assured him, winding the rope around one arm.

He gave her a soft look that normally made her heart leap in her chest. "What can I do to repay you?"

Casting him a sidelong look, she smiled, wrapping one arm around his neck and pulling him in for a tender, lingering kiss, breaking it after a moment to answer:

"_Get me out of this tree."_


	10. Settling

It was Zuko who first suggested to Aang that he build a house in what would come to be known as Republic City, in part because the young Avatar was griping light-heartedly about how much time he was spending in the city and joked that he might as well move in, and in part because the thought of settling down had never even crossed Aang's mind before.

It was early spring, which made the temperature of the Fire Nation much more bearable than usual. With the weather being as nice as it was, Aang had been so reluctant to hole up inside the palace that Zuko finally relented and had some servants move a table out to one of the covered walkways where they could sit and talk and go over the latest news from Yu Dao and the newly formed United Republic. The serene royal gardens surrounded them, the perfume of the earliest flowers and the distant sounds of singing birds, running water, and the quacks of turtle-ducks weaving through the sun-drenched air.

"Toph doesn't think the harbor expansion design will work," Aang said, taking a drink of the tea the Fire Lord had offered him and passing his friend a marked-up map that had a small, fluttering note attached to it. "Sokka took a look at our plans and agreed with her. These are just his rough edits."

Zuko glanced over the map and notes, precariously lifting his good eyebrow. "These are _rough _edits?"

"Well, you know how Sokka gets," Aang said with a wry grin. "He said he would iron out more details while I'm over here."

Aang was visiting his friend for the first time in a few months, although he had seen him not that long ago when Zuko visited Yu Dao to see how the city's expansion was progressing. After the disastrous misunderstanding and resulting confrontation near the end of the Harmony Restoration Movement, Aang and Zuko came to a mutual, unspoken agreement to see each other at least a few times a year and maintain regular communication – something they failed to do in the year following the war's end. Somewhat understandable given how busy they both were, but still ultimately unacceptable. They were both determined not to mess up the United Republic.

"I'm just glad to be out of the city," Aang continued, pouring himself more tea. "After traveling for so long, it feels kind of odd being in one place for so long."

"How long have you been in Yu Dao?" Zuko asked distractedly as he turned the map sideways and squinted suspiciously at something Sokka drew.

"Katara and I got there a couple of weeks after the winter solstice," he said. "I went there right after we left the Fire Nation because they wanted my help supervising the organization of a few new neighborhoods and we've been there ever since." The corner of his lip quirked upward in a half-grin. "I'm starting to think I should just move in and get it over with," he joked. "I certainly stay there enough to justify it!"

Zuko had the map upside-down at this point, his head tilted heavily to one side. "Just move in, then," he muttered, cautiously tracing a line on the parchment with a bewildered expression. "Get an apartment or something."

Aang laughed and took another drink of his tea. "Good one, Zuko."

Zuko stopped puzzling over the map long enough to scowl over at him. "I was being serious. _You're _the one who suggested you move there!"

Aang shook his head, still laughing. "Nomads don't just live in one spot, Zuko."

The Fire Lord gave up on the map, setting it aside. "You lived at the Southern Air Temple for a long time, didn't you?"

He frowned lightly. "Well..." he hedged carefully, "that was different."

"Different how?"

"Because I was a kid," Aang said simply. When Zuko gave him a look that said he wasn't buying it, he sighed and clarified, "_All _Air Nomad kids live at the temples, but that's just to make it easier to train them in Airbending. The adults travelled – unless they were good enough Airbenders to become monks or nuns."

"So?"

"So...I'm an adult!"

Zuko snorted loudly.

"I _am_!" Aang asserted, plucking up one of the tiny pastries they'd brought out to snack on and flinging it at the Fire Lord. "Quit laughing at me!"

"Right, Aang," Zuko said, fighting to keep his smile down. "You just threw food at me, but you're totally an adult."

He rolled his eyes, sitting back and crossing his arms petulantly over his chest. "Being fifteen made you an adult to the Air Nomads," he sulked. "So as of last fall, I'm an _adult_."

Zuko hand-waved Aang's declaration, taking a drink of his tea to stop himself from laughing too much. "Fine, okay, you're an adult. You happy?"

When he continued scowling, however, Zuko rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, come on. You were twelve when I met you, Aang. You're always going to be a kid to me."

"So what, when I'm ninety and completely ancient, you're still going to call me a kid?"

"Probably."

Zuko got hit in the head with another pastry, but privately decided it was worth it.

In Zuko's defense, the wiry young Avatar _did _seem to radiate youthful innocence and playfulness...although of course in Aang's defense, he could be serious and intimidating when necessary. It was an interesting juxtaposition that always puzzled Zuko – how on _earth _did Aang pull it off? – but it made it so that Aang could both field serious matters and successfully make Zuko lighten up, so he figured he shouldn't complain.

"Anyway," Aang said as he scooped his teacup back up, "I'm a grown Air Nomad, and Air Nomads don't settle."

"You could be a monk."

Aang shrugged and averted his gaze. "Not much point being an Airbending teacher now, is there?"

Zuko silently cursed his insensitivity. Sometimes, it was easy for him to forget that Aang was the last of his race. The same fact was probably never very far from his friend's mind. Regretting his thoughtless words, he said hesitantly, "Hey, you...might have kids one day, right? One of the could be an Airbender. You'll have to teach them."

Knowing what his friend was trying to do, Aang offered Zuko a half-hearted smile. "I don't know if Katara wants kids yet," he admitted. "And even if we do have an Airbender, it's hardly worth me taking over an entire temple just to teach them a few old tricks." He swirled the tea slowly in his cup, his expression pensive as he silently weighed whether or not he wanted to voice what was on his mind.

"Not even sure I want to show them those old tricks, if we're being honest," he said softly.

Zuko frowned. "Wait, are you saying you don't want to teach your kids Airbending?"

Aang sighed heavily, setting his cup down and rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know," he said grudgingly. "I mean...I guess it _would_ be kind of irresponsible for me not to, wouldn't it?" He leaned back on his hands, regarding Zuko with sharp gray eyes. "Your uncle has already had a _talk _with me about it," he said, bitterness leaking into his voice. "Apparently the Order of the White Lotus – as well as a few really powerful sages – are concerned about what will happen when the next Fire Nation Avatar dies if there's no Air Nomads around."

Zuko's frown deepened. "Do you think that the Avatar would just...stop existing?"

Aang thought about this for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I don't," he said. "The Avatar Spirit is smarter than most people give it credit for. Even most sages don't realize how much self-awareness it has." He sat forward and grabbed his drink again. "When I ran away before the war and was swept beneath the ocean, it froze me – but when another storm took me under a couple of months after I was freed, it got me out of the water." He used Waterbending to idly stir his tea, his expression thoughtful. "I think if the Avatar died and the Avatar Spirit couldn't find someone in the next nation, it would just move on to the one after that.

"...But I guess it's still a valid concern," Aang continued reluctantly. "Future Avatars can't learn Airbending from old books, they probably wouldn't get everything right..."

He drained his cup, and Zuko offered him more tea, which he gladly took. "It just seems unfair," he concluded, "burdening my kids with a dead nation. You know?"

Zuko didn't know, and he hoped desperately he never did, but he nodded slowly anyway, watching as Aang drank. After a moment, he said, "Maybe that's a decision you should leave to your kids, if you have any."

Aang lowered the cup, watching Zuko expectantly.

"I know this can't be easy for you," he continued. "You miss your people, and you'd probably like to have another Airbender around...but at the same time, you don't want your kids to feel pressured, and you don't want them to take on too much...or feel what _you're_ feeling."

"When did you get so intuitive?" Aang muttered.

"But you can't make their decisions for them, Aang," Zuko continued. "I think it's good that you don't want to burden them, but you also can't keep them from knowing about who they are. Giving them the option to choose is important."

Aang squinted at his friend. "Iroh is rubbing off on you."

"It was bound to happen eventually," he joked, grinning lightly.

Aang smiled in return. "You're right, Zuko. I think that's what I'll do if I have kids."

He paused.

"But I'm still not settling down!"

Zuko let out a half-laugh, half-groan. "You said it yourself, you might as well! As much time as you spend in Yu Dao, you _do _practically live there. And you have to travel for your duties, so that should keep your wanderlust in check, shouldn't it?"

"You'd be surprised," Aang said. "I _really _don't like staying in one place."

"What about Katara?" Zuko said. "Does _she _want to settle down?"

Aang opened his mouth to answer but then shut it again, looking surprised and uncertain.

"I'm...I'm not sure," he admitted after a moment of silence. "I mean, she always seemed pretty happy traveling..."

"For now," Zuko argued, "but do you really think she wants to keep traveling for the _rest of her life_? You might be a nomad, Aang, but that's not how she was raised."

A troubled, distracted expression occupied the Avatar's face, and he immediately regretted putting the idea in his friend's mind. This was going to nag him until he resolved it, and he was going to be completely useless to Zuko until then.

Not waiting for Aang to pull himself out of his pensive silence, Zuko stood and stretched. "I think I'm going to find Mai," he said pointedly. "Make sure you come to the dining hall in time for dinner, okay? And I think I heard Katara say she was going down to feed the turtle-ducks earlier. In case you wanted to find her."

Hoping Aang would take his rather transparent bait, Zuko swept down the walkway towards the palace, wordlessly vowing to just let Aang do the talking in the future.

Aang stayed at the table for a few minutes, staring blankly at the ornate teapot and scattered notes and half-empty tray of pastries, mind swimming. With a heavy sigh, he Airbended himself to his feet and scanned the garden. It was beautiful here, lush and green and peaceful. He was half-tempted to just put the matters out of his mind and enjoy his visit, but one thing Zuko said stuck him like a thorn and wouldn't let go; _Does Katara want to settle down? _He had only given these matters passing thoughts, not really seeing any point in dwelling too hard on getting married or where to live, but Zuko's teasing had provoked a sharp thought that wouldn't stop needling him – Aang _was _growing up. He was already an adult by the standards of his own culture, and would also be one by the standards of his girlfriend's before the end of the year. She had never seemed all that worried about them getting married or settling down or anything before, so he hadn't worried about it either, but he got the feeling that the time where he could put off doing anything about it was drawing to a close.

He started across the lawn, trying to remember where the turtle-duck pond was. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, he heard the soft sound of quacks and followed them, rounding a massive, flowering bush to see the wide, sparkling pond. Katara was, in fact, sitting on the bank in the shade of a tree, leaning back on one hand and tossing bread crumbs to the turtle-ducks with a small smile on her face. Seeing her made his heart ache slightly, and he suddenly felt terrible. He had always taken for granted that he knew his girlfriend pretty well, but he suddenly realized that he had no real idea of what her plans or aspirations for the future were. Talking about the future usually focused around talking about the future of the_ four nations_, discussing politics or the United Republic or industrialization. What she wanted to do for herself, however, was something of a mystery to him, and that was unacceptable.

He called out to her as started towards her, and she looked up at him, her smile widening and brightening as he made his way closer.

"Hey, sweetie," she greeted warmly as he dropped down to his knees next to her and gave her a kiss.

"Hey," he grinned. He leaned back against the tree, tugging her along with him, and she happily fell back against his chest, snuggling closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her and dropped a kiss against the top of her head. "Are you having fun?"

She shrugged, resting her arms against his. "Not the word I'd use," she admitted, laughing lightly. "The turtle-ducks are pretty cute, though, I have to admit."

He hummed in agreement.

"What did you and Zuko talk about?" she asked, tracing the arrow on one of his arms.

"Just some stuff," he said vaguely, leaning his head back against the tree. "I showed him Sokka's edits for the harbor and told him about what the mayor wants done with city hall..."

He trailed off, staring up into the branches of the tree, and after a few minutes of the comfortable silence, she nudged him gently in the stomach, twisting slightly in his arms so she could look up at him. "What are you thinking about?"

He glanced down at her, his voice stuck in his throat. She was so pretty, the sunlight that filtered through the trees playing off of her hair and bright blue eyes. She curled up in his lap and banded her arms around his torso, pressing a kiss to his cheek and murmuring in his ear, "Talk to me?"

He wrapped her in a secure hug and pulled her closer, agonizing silently over his wording. "I...what...I mean to say, when we..." he paused, swallowed, and pressed forward, ignoring her puzzled expression. "Where do you want to live when you're...older?"

She gave him a thoroughly uncomprehending look. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice genuinely nonplussed.

He hesitated, unsure of how to word the question without being presumptive. "I mean...later down the road, you know."

When she persisted in looking at him like he was speaking a completely different language, he groaned his agitation and tried again. "Do you ever want to, say...move back to the Southern Water Tribe?"

Features awash with comprehension, she smiled sweetly at him. "No, I don't."

He didn't bother masking his surprise. "Why?"

"Because," she said slowly, cuddling closer to him, "that would be harder on you, wouldn't it?"

"How do you mean?" he asked, silently praying that he wasn't blushing as bad as he thought he might be.

She picked contemplatively at a loose thread in his wrap. "You have to travel a lot," she said, "and the Southern Tribe is pretty far away from everything, isn't it? That would just be really inconvenient. Imagine having to always run back and forth between the Southern Water Tribe and Yu Dao, or Ba Sing Se, or the Fire Nation. You'd be completely run down."

He frowned lightly. "Don't you miss it?"

She locked her eyes on his, her expression serious. "Of course I do," she said, "but it's just not worth making all of that extra work for you."

He caught the implication about her intention to keep living with him, and tried not to think about the happy swooping sensation in his stomach. There was no reason for him to assume she didn't want to stay with him, but it also wasn't exactly right for him to assume that she _did, _especially since they weren't married or even engaged. _Should probably work on that. _

"Then where do you want to live?" he asked softly.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Wherever you are."

His heart melted, both at her answer and at the casual manner with which she delivered it – she didn't even have to _think _about it.

"Is there anywhere in particular you're thinking about?" she continued.

He reached up and threaded his fingers through her hair. "Zuko suggested Yu Dao," he hedged.

"That would make sense," she said slowly, "but is that where _you _want to live?"

"I don't really want to live any one place," he said honestly.

She sat back, studying him with a concerned look on her face. "You want to keep being nomads, then?"

He caught the pluralization, and he had to stop himself from pulling her close again and kissing her. "I like being a nomad," he said softly, "but...I know that won't work forever."

She scooped up his hand, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. "Why not?"

He sighed. "Do you want to get married?"

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Is that an offer?"

He bushed darkly. "No! I mean – well, it's not – I mean, _I _want to if...um..."

Her laughter startled him, and before he knew what was happening, she leaned in to give him a quick kiss.

"Eventually, yes," she said when she pulled back. "I wouldn't mind being married to you at all. No rush, though."

"Right," he said, nodding in understanding. "That's what I...uh, anyway. When we...or, I don't know, _if _we got married, would you...want to have kids eventually?"

She cocked her head at him contemplatively. "I think so, yeah," she said. "I've always liked kids, and I'd like having a family with you."

Before Aang could blush or smile too much, she pressed forward. "But what does that have to do with us traveling?"

"Ah," he said, grin fading as he remembered why he breeched this topic. "Well, if we were to have a family, it might be a bit harder to travel."

She crossed her arms over her chest, frowning thoughtfully. "How did your people manage it?"

He ignored the lump of pain in his throat for the sake of the conversation. "Babies were born in the Eastern and Western Air Temples," he said. "The temples had special buildings where expectant mothers and their families could stay for a few weeks before and after the birth. After a month, the family would return to traveling. When the kid turned four, they'd be taken to one of the Air Temples, and they'd stay there until they mastered Airbending."

Katara looked slightly surprised. "Did you never see your families?"

"No, we did," he assured her. "The Air Nomads had a few festival days each year, and people usually went to the Air Temples where they had relatives."

"That makes sense," she said. She hesitated. "What was...what was your family like?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Gyatso told me that my father died of a fever a few months before I was born, and my mother died in childbirth. I never met them."

Her features crumpled slightly. "Oh, Aang, I'm sorry..."

"It's okay," he reassured her, smiling. "Sometimes I wonder what they were like, but...I had Gyatso. He was like a father to me. I never minded too much."

She nodded, eyes averted. "So..." she said slowly, "so Air Nomad children didn't travel, then?"

"Nope," Aang confirmed.

She sighed, falling against him again and pressing her face into his chest. "It's probably still possible," she mused as he absentmindedly started stroking her hair.

"But do you want that?" he asked quietly.

"I _told _you," she said in a muffled voice, "I want to be where _you _are. Everything else will work out."

If he could have married her then and there, he would have. He settled for pulling her up and kissing her.


End file.
